OK, I'll weigh in on this one. I believe that the Celtics will be good again before the Raptors are. They have started the rebuilding process with draft choices lined up and cap room down the line. The Raptors have to wait to see how the Rudy contract/trade plays out to get to the point to where the Celtics are right now.

OK, I'll weigh in on this one. I believe that the Celtics will be good again before the Raptors are. The have started the rebuilding process with draft choices lined up and cap room down the line. The Raptors have to wait to see how the Rudy contract/trade plays out to get to the point to where the Celtics are right now.

I agree. The Celtics obviously didn't have a good off-season in terms of a talent in/talent out perspective, but considering their goal was to start rebuilding I'd say they did a pretty good job. They harvested 4 unprotected first round picks between 2014-2018, got some financial wiggle room a little eariler, and they'll have a chance to get a top 5 pick with their own selection next summer.

Two of the Nets picks' will come after Pierce, and KG are likely retired. With the Nets roster strategy (buy, buy, buy!) who wants to bet that they'll be able to remain competitive 5 years down the road? Celtics did great and are on the fast track to contention.

The Raptors improvement this year, realistically, will be very slight. Like any other fan, I'm hoping for a best case outcome with Rudy and Landry shooting better, JV and Ross developing significantly, DD improving his range, Rudy attacking more, Lowry having a better balance of running sets vs. attacking the basket, Casey implementing his D-first philosophies, etc. etc. BUT, realistically, this is all the usual offseason chatter that EVERY team is talking up. The NBA comes down to talent wins - period. Some teams add all-stars, MVP candidates, and unprotected first round picks during the offseason, but the Raptors have only added a few scrubs, two of the most noteworthy of which (Hansbrough and Augustin) were bench players on a Pacers team that was known as "the team with the horrible, horrible bench."

JV will be better, but I don't expect him to push this team to 10 more wins this season. He's gonna need some more development time.

Overall it's debatable, considering the drastic overhauls some teams undergo, whether or not the Raptors will be "recongizably better." I'm fine with the SI writer putting it that way.

Two of the Nets picks' will come after Pierce, and KG are likely retired. With the Nets roster strategy (buy, buy, buy!) who wants to bet that they'll be able to remain competitive 5 years down the road? Celtics did great and are on the fast track to contention.

I think the Nets will be competitive every year with the amount of money they're willing to spend. Just look at their salaries moving forward. Everyone other than Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, and Brooke Lopez will be off the books in 2 years. The year after that only (player option) Deron is under contract. As long as they're willing to take on overpaid/aging star-ish players, they will also be a solid team in the East, as there is never a shortage of teams trying to shed deals like Joe Johnsons. Not championship contender, but a solid playoff team.

OK, I'll weigh in on this one. I believe that the Celtics will be good again before the Raptors are. They have started the rebuilding process with draft choices lined up and cap room down the line. The Raptors have to wait to see how the Rudy contract/trade plays out to get to the point to where the Celtics are right now.

did everyone the picks we got for bargnani? what do you believe ujiri could have done if he had assets like kg, pierce, jet to work with?

also, the fact he has positioned our roster so we have even less players on contract going forwards in 2014/2015 than the celtics do? while at the same completely overhauling our bench with much improved players than we had last year?

while at the same completely overhauling our bench with much improved players than we had last year?

People really need to stop pretending our bench is massively improved. Two guys from last year's terrible Pacers bench (Hansbrough and Augustin), a guy who was on the brink of playing internationally (Daye), a very situational shooter (Novak) and a 24-year-old project (Buycks) do not a Bench Mob make. They just don't. We heard the same hyperbole over the Raps' "improved bench" last year and it wasn't true then and it's not true now.

I think the current Raps are better as they got younger, got rid of bargnani for something (novak and draft picks), got rid of old ball hogs who think they're kobe (allen andersen and john lucas), improved they're coaching staff.

I'm not expecting automatic playoffs as I don't wanna get heart broken like what the Jays did, but the raps were a .500 team since they acquired Gay. They could have made the playoffs, but they lost a lot of key games in February against teams that they're supposed to beat. I'm expecting a much improved offensive system not over-reliance on isos, improved inside game esp with Jonas, more hustle (Amir, Jonas, Tyler, Acy), and of course highlight reels (gay, derozan, ross, buycks).

The eyes are now on Gay and Lowry. It's"their" team now, no more excuses (jose, bargs, colangelo are all gone). It's time for them to show up and live up to their contracts (Gay especially).

OK, I'll weigh in on this one. I believe that the Celtics will be good again before the Raptors are. They have started the rebuilding process with draft choices lined up and cap room down the line. The Raptors have to wait to see how the Rudy contract/trade plays out to get to the point to where the Celtics are right now.

It all depends if draft picks pan out....also you need luck with lotto balls.

People really need to stop pretending our bench is massively improved. Two guys from last year's terrible Pacers bench (Hansbrough and Augustin), a guy who was on the brink of playing internationally (Daye), a very situational shooter (Novak) and a 24-year-old project (Buycks) do not a Bench Mob make. They just don't. We heard the same hyperbole over the Raps' "improved bench" last year and it wasn't true then and it's not true now.

We are not massively improved but we are better. The difference between being a playoff team and not is winning the close games, getting the calls and jumping on fatigued opponents early and often. Raps are better positioned to have success this year but there is no guarantee. I think the biggest thing we could do in my opinion to get easy wins is turn UP the intensity and effort when we get up by 7-10 points in games. Mentally our teams has let up in these situations....remember game vs Mil when up by 20 in second quarter that we eventually lost? That should not happen.

We're pretty much the same as we were to end the season. There were no real talent upgrades made during the offseason. People saying that we're much better then last year are wearing rose coloured glasses. If you're hoping that Rudy Gay becomes an AllStar, DeRozan become an above average starter and JV has a monster year you'll be disappointed.

People really need to stop pretending our bench is massively improved. Two guys from last year's terrible Pacers bench (Hansbrough and Augustin), a guy who was on the brink of playing internationally (Daye), a very situational shooter (Novak) and a 24-year-old project (Buycks) do not a Bench Mob make. They just don't. We heard the same hyperbole over the Raps' "improved bench" last year and it wasn't true then and it's not true now.

You, and a few others it seems, keep ranting about "not contender" or not "massively improved", but that's not the question posed. Perhaps you and your brethren need to create a thread of your own where the subject is what you want to talk about?

The Raptors improvement this year, realistically, will be very slight.

You guys are way underestimating the impact that Hansbrough and Novak will have. Hansbrough took a big pay cut to come to Toronto and play heavy minutes. He does a lot of little things that do not show up in the stats. His stats as a starter are very good, so look for him to step up when he has a chance. But most of all is his unmatched effort and will to win. I expect that will rub off on the younger guys.

As for Novak, having a deadly three-point shooter on the bench is good way for a team to come from behind when things are not going well. The season is long and just getting close enough to catch a supposedly better team in the second half, then actually doing it, can do great things for morale.

You guys are way underestimating the impact that Hansbrough and Novak will have. Hansbrough took a big pay cut to come to Toronto and play heavy minutes. He does a lot of little things that do not show up in the stats. His stats as a starter are very good, so look for him to step up when he has a chance. But most of all is his unmatched effort and will to win. I expect that will rub off on the younger guys.

He's actually going to make more then he's ever made this year. $3,183,000 according to basketball reference.

As a restricted free agent, Hansbrough was scheduled to make $4.1 million with the Pacers. That is nearly a $1 million pay cut. He and his agent convinced Indiana to revoke the offer so he could get playing time.